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PCT NEWSLETTER

www.wipo.int/pct/en

December 2017 | No. 12/2017

Important Information from the International Bureau Regarding Fax Usage

From 1 January 2018, the International Bureau’s (IB) telecommunications service provider will cease to provide analog lines and, accordingly, all faxes to and from the IB will use Voice Over Internet Protocol (VOIP) technology. We have been informed by our service provider that, as a result, it can appear to the sender that a transmission has been successful even though some or all of the transmission has in fact been lost. This development has caused the IB to consider the discontinuation of PCT fax services at the IB entirely from the end of 2018.

In the event that you have no alternative but to send communications to the IB by fax during 2018, it is strongly recommended that you call or e mail the PCT Operations Team concerned1, before or immediately after sending the fax.

We remind PCT applicants that the most efficient and reliable means of communication with the IB, including with the IB as receiving Office (RO), is to use the document upload function in ePCT: https://pct.wipo.int. It is possible to upload documents via ePCT simply and efficiently using the basic sign-in with a WIPO Account (username and password only); signing-in with additional strong authentication (digital certificate or one-time password) allows you, amongst many other features, to upload documents not only to the IB, but also to any other participating Offices in their capacity as RO, International Searching Authority or International Preliminary Examining Authority. To learn more, see the ePCT Support page at: